"YOUUUUUUU!!!"
It was well after one in the morning. Penelope's head had hardly hit the pillow, and she'd practically fallen asleep before she was all the way in the bed. She was out for about ten minutes when a firm hand gripped her by the hair and yanked her out of bed."
She knew she wasn't supposed to scream, but in her dazed state, Penelope let out a loud, fearful shriek. Unable to help herself, she screamed and screamed and screamed while Mary yelled at her to shut her mouth and began slapping her.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" She cried. "I finished all my chores! Why are you doing this to me!?" She pleaded. Oh no. Had she already discovered that Penelope had used their landlines to make a phone call?
"Oh, you did all of your chores, huh? Then WHY IS THERE STILL LAUNDRY IN THE BATHROOM!?" She said, throwing Penelope down and throwing something at her.
Penelope hit the side of her head on the frame of her bed. Hard. She couldn't tell what Mary had even thrown at her.
"What's going on up here?" Penelope's father walked in.
"Daddy, help me! Please, help me!" Penelope sobbed.
"Don't you bring him into this you ungrateful little brat! You had an entire list of things to do and you couldn't be bothered to finish it, could you? You think you can just lay around and sleep all day when we're nit here? Huh?"
Penelope's vision cleared, revealing the towel she had showered with earlier. "I just used this." She sobbed, looking at her father for his help. "All the other laundry is washed, folded and put away. I did everything you asked me to. Both pages, even!"
"What do you mean, both pages?" Her father inquired. Where's this list?"
Penelope realized she'd carried yhe list back upstairs when she had finished. She reached over to her nightstand and grabbed it, but Mary yanked it out of her hands and crumbled it.
"It wasn't two pages, it was all on this one piece of paper. Don't you lie!"
"I did it all. The laundry, the walls, the kitchen, the baseboards, the dusting, the floors..." Penelope trailed off, trying to remember everything else that she had done, but her head hurt so bad..."
"You had her do all that and you're upset over a towel? Mary-!"
"No! This girl did not do everything she was told to do! Don't you coddle her!"
"And what chores did you have the boys do today?" Her father inquired.
"It. Doesn't. Matter!" Mary stammered. "We will discuss this more tomorrow!" She said, throwing the crumpled list at Penelope. "And you will do all of this over again."
Mary stormed out of the room without another look at Penelope, leaving her and her father alone together.
Penelope sobbed. "Why, Dad? Why do you let her do this to me? It was just a towel."
Her father looked at her with a small amount of remorse in his eyes. "I'm sorry sweetie. It was a long evening for her and I'm sure she's exhausted. She didn't mean any of it."
"Yes, she did, dad. She always does." Because shes a witch. She took the crumpled list, contemplating handing it to him. Would it really matter, though? He was still going to take her side, anyways. So she clutched it in her hand and sat in silence, willing her sobs to turn into quiet tears. "She's a monster." She quietly said.
Her father had no words. Instead, he turned around and shut the door as he walked out of the room.
Penelope fell to the side and huddled into a ball. She fell asleep, tears still falling down her face while clutching the piece of paper.
~~~~~~~~
When Penelope woke up the ne t morning, her head was pounding. She stood up and was overwhelmed with dizziness. Her body swayed as she braced herself on her bed and pulled herself up on it. She managed to lay her chest across it and closed her eyes while she waited for the dizzy spell to pass.
When it seemed safe, she slowly rolled over and sat up. Although she was still disoriented, she managed to get up and get dressed for work.
Before stepping out of her room, she noticed the paper on the floor. She was going to have to do all that... again... just as soon as she got home. Maybe if she stashed it somewhere, Mary would forget what it all was. She picked it up and shoved it in her pocket. She'd figure out where to put it later. She was too tired to do it now.
She carefully worked her way through the house, not wanting to fall and wake anybody up. Surely, they were all still passed out from the night before.
She made her way to the kitchen, contemplating breakfast when her father's voice coming from a chair in the living room startled her. "Hey, Pumpkin. You don't look too good."
"I'm fine. Its just a headache. I probably didn't get enough sleep." Realizing she really wasn't hungry, she went for her shoes by the door.
"How about a ride today?" Her dad offered. Well, Mary wasn't up to stop him, but if she found out...
Whatever. She was already in trouble anyway. "Yes please. May I have some medicine, too?"
"Sure, Pumpkin. Let me go get you some Motrin."
He disappeared into the bathroom and came back out with a couple of pills. Then he went to the kitchen and got her a glass of water. "Thanks, Dad." She said. Then she took the medicine and put on her shoes.
They got in her dad's car and took off in silence. Her dad broke it after a few minutes "I was thinking about going through the coffee shop. Would you like something?"
Penelope's face brightened. "I'd like that!" But then she stalled. "Don't tell Mary?" She pleaded.
"It'll be our secret!" Her dad promised.
They got into the drive through. He ordered coffee, and she got a smoothie. "Thanks, Dad!" She exclaimed when he handed her the drink. This morning was already getting better! Nevermind that the medicine hadn't kicked in just yet.
She sipped on her smoothie contently for a minute before her dad spoke up again. "I'm sorry about last night. I don't know why Mary is so hard on you. I'm going to have a talk with her today. I'm not going to let her make you redo all of those chores over a towel. I saw that the laundry was done. The house is spotless, and you did a good job. That was uncalled for."
"Thanks, Dad." Penelope smiled. They pulled into Sub Haven, and Penelope went inside. The medicine was finally starting to work. It wasn't helping much but at least she could hold herself up.
She was working with Terry this morning, and she knew the workload was going to be easier on her. She needed it, too. It may have been turning out to be a better day but she still felt like crap.
She must have looked it, too because Terry immediately confronted her "My goodness, dear! You look terrible today!"
"I'm fine!" Penelope promised. "I've just got a bit of a headache. Didn't get much sleep last night."
"Alright, if you insist. Why don't you go work on refilling the vegetables and panning desserts this morning? I'll take care of the bread."
"Sure. I can do that!" Terry had given her the lighter tasks. Sure, it was all easy. But the bread came as pre-made dough that was frozen in large, heavy boxes. She usually didn't mind the heavy lifting, but today she didn't know if she could handle them.
Penelope went back to the kitchen and got started on her work. It was slow going for her, and Terry ended up helping her, but everything was done on time to open.
It was always slow when they first opened. People really didn't come in until lunchtime, and there was nothing else to do because it was all done the night before. So, Terry and Penelope pulled out a deck of Uno cards to play between customers.
As people came in one or two at a time, Terry got up to tend to them, forcing Penelope to rest. When the lunch rush came, though, Penelope had to step in to help. Business picked up faster than normal, and as Penelope swirled around to grab bread and change out pans, the dizziness she felt hit her even harder, and she struggled to keep up.
"Go sit down, child. I've got this." Terry said when the line finally started to break.
"No, its ok, Terry. There are still quite a few people. I can help!"
The door opened for another customer, and there he was. Derek had arrived for his promised lunch date. He laid eyes on her just as she was reaching into the cabinet to pull out another pan of bread. She spun around, but instead of looking back to the line, Penelope fell backwards. It was almost as if it happened in slow motion.
Terry looked over in time and caught her under her arms as all the bread flew past them. The pan clattered onto the floor. The last thing she heard was Derek Fillmore shouting her name. And then pointing at a customer and telling them to call 911.